Sunday, March 8, 2009

Pizzeria 123 Followup

Some pix of the aftermath. Im glad everyone was ok, although in one of these pix, you can tell the owner was into concrete up to his hips by the residue on his jeans. Hopefully no one has to go homeless over this...lets wait till all the facts are in before heads roll. I hope the prospective buyers at 2280 FDB are given the option of backing out. This story has legs, so I'll try to get info as best I can.Packing up the firehoses (this is why false alarms can be such a bummer).Impromptu press conf...note tool taking cell phone pix in backround. Also note Ti-Hua Chang in lower right in taupe raincoat. Night shots.

2 comments:

This is a classic construction mistake, pouring wet concrete into wall formwork to the full height of the wall, approx 12 feet or more exerts extreme horizontal pressure on the lower formwork, even for a mere 6inch wall. The pizzeria brick wall was not up to this pressure. The concrete should have been poured in stages, maybe 3ft at a time. This speaks of lack of construction supervision, but more likely a common mistake of not understanding the pressures wet concrete poured to this height can exert. Pouring concrete in stages would cost more as ordering several concrete deliveries and construction delays, this is typical rushed construction. The good news is it is a miracle the side of the pizzeria did not collapse as this is load bearing brick wall.